God Touched
by gingerroot15
Summary: Anisa has never wanted anything more than to keep her and her brother safe. But when she's transported across the country and her brother is left behind, all that changes. Suddenly a quest is thrust upon her- one that may change her life, not to mention the world, forever. Is Anisa up to the task?
1. Prologue

**A/N: Enjoy! Mind you, this will be erratically updated because I don't like typing up my schtuff.**

"MERCURY!" Jupiter roared, shaking the empty throne room.

Mercury raced to his father's side. "Yes, Lord Jupiter?" He asked timidly.

Jupiter's eye twitched. "I knew you were a bad parent, but this- this is too much."

"What's too much?" Mercury's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"You sent your child to the wrong camp!" Jupiter bellowed, frustrated. "The girl you haven't claimed yet!"

The Roman gods had made a promise to the demigods, about a year ago. The promise said that gods would send their children to the camp by the age of thirteen at the latest, and claim them by no later than sixteen. Mercury was just now sending his daughter to the camp. She was almost sixteen by now, and her mother was distressed; the girl had run away from home soon after the Titan War had ended.

"Oh," Mercury replied meekly. "I see. Is she already there?"

Jupiter spat out, "Yes, she is. You have two options: if the Greek camp accepts her, she may stay there instead of coming to Camp Jupiter. If within a month they do not accept her, you will wipe her memory and put her in the Roman camp."

"And… my other option?" Mercury swallowed the lump in his throat.

"She goes on her own. No help from anyone. Gaea may have her."

Mercury stammered, "But… surely that is too harsh, my lord! She could be the key to Gaea succeeding to overthrow us!"

"End of story. You are dismissed!" Jupiter waved his hand, and the throne room dissolved. Mercury sped to where he wanted to go: Chiron's office.

A girl he thought he recognized stood looking at a few old photographs. "Lord Hermes?" She frowned. "Why are you here?"

"I'm Mercury." He peered out the window at Half-Blood Hill. Sure enough, his daughter was running from a hydra, red curls bouncing around her. "The girl who is arriving- tell Chiron I have a message about her. And go help her- she can't kill a hydra with no weapon."

With that, Mercury disappeared, leaving a puzzled Annabeth to race out the door and grab a few spare daggers. Annabeth rounded Thalia's tree and hoped the girl was somewhat competent with a weapon.


	2. Chapter 1

Anisa ran, her marathon-runner's legs surprisingly still in shape. Her last race was three years ago. A hydra chased her, which wasn't all that uncommon. Except that the tow truck she had used to run over its mate was demolished and she had no other weapon. _Sucks for me,_ she thought grimly.

The fifteen-almost-sixteen-year-old ran up the steep hill, hoping for a vantage point. Instead, she ran backwards into a tree, causing her to see stars. The hydra spat acid, landing on her bare foot, and Anisa yowled in pain. She stumbled backwards into- a person? Yes, most definitely a human. The person pushed her back onto her feet and shoved a glowing knife into her hands. The blade flickered with blue fire, yet Anisa felt no pain. She'd probably pay for it later.

Anisa, naturally, chopped off a head. That was the best thing to do with hydras, right? Its acidic blood sprayed her clothes, singeing holes into the tattered tee-shirt and burning the knee of her jeans.

The other person was whirling around, stabbing the hydra repeatedly in a pattern Anisa couldn't understand. She realized the person was trying to get at its heart and joined in. Anisa got a lucky lunge; the hydra dissolved into crumbling yellow dust. She spat out chunks of hydra powder and gagged. She vomited in a nearby bush, unable to control the impulse.

When she staggered back over, the other person looked at her in a scrutinizing manner. "Who are you?"

Anisa started to see black spots. "A... A... I think I'm going to faint." With that, she keeled over and passed out.

/*\

Anisa woke with a bandaged foot, hands wrapped in clean white gauze, a glass of what looked like apple juice, and no clue where she was. She was lying in bed and three people had gathered around her, two girls and one boy. That made her nauseous all over again; her claustrophobia was very intense. She swallowed the bile in her throat and did her best not to bolt from the spot.

"She's awake," a redheaded girl said with curiosity. "Who are you?"

"Why do you care?" Anisa spat. A year of living on the streets made her all too cautious.

A boy with straight black hair that stuck out at all angles put on a calm expression. The bed-headed boy said, "Hey, it's okay, we're all friends here. We're just trying to help."

A sense of security washed over Anisa. "Okay, I guess. Who are you all?"

The redheaded girl smiled. "I'm Rachel Dare."

"Peter Catos," the bed-headed boy nodded.

"Annabeth Chase, but you already know me." Annabeth stared at Anisa, as if expecting her to know every little detail about where she was. "I gave you that flaming knife? I took that back, by the way."

"Oh," Anisa managed. "Yeah."

"And who are you?" Peter prompted.

"Anisa," she sputtered, reluctant to give out any information about herself. "Look, I don't know where I am or why that hydra attacked me. Can someone please explain?"

Rachel gave the other two a look that clearly said that she would take care of it; Annabeth and Peter left the room, and Anisa took a sip of the apple juice. She recoiled at the taste; it wasn't apple juice, it couldn't be, not when the flavor was of her mom's homemade brownies.

"Okay, this is probably going to come as a shock to you," Rachel sighed. "Greek gods are real."

"That's not too hard to swallow. Not after that hydra." Anisa bit her lip and glanced at her bandaged foot.

Rachel nodded and smiled. "Good, good. Because you're a daughter of one."

That threw Anisa for a loop. "Sorry. _What?_"

"You're a child of a Greek god," Rachel repeated slowly.

Anisa snorted. "Yeah right. What Greek god would want me as a kid?"

Rachel shrugged. "You should find out sometime soon. How old are you?"

"Almost sixteen. Why?"

"You should have been brought to Camp last year," Rachel frowned. "They swore on the River Styx."

"The gods?" Anisa guessed. "What did they swear on the River Styx?"

"That they would all claim their children by the time they were thirteen. Any child not claimed yet who were thirteen or older should have gotten claimed. But you would have been almost fifteen when that happened… and you're just coming here now."

Anisa shrugged. "Don't blame me. Eh… who's your godly parent? And, um, Annabeth and Peter?"

"Annabeth is a daughter of Athena, goddess of wisdom, and Peter is a son of Disdain, the goddess of emotion." Rachel replied. "I'm actually mortal. Oracle of Delphi. Blessed by Apollo, I guess you could say." This must have been a sore spot, because her face slackened into an emotion Anisa couldn't quite place.

Anisa found the word she was looking for. Wistful. "That's awesome! Apollo's really cool! Um… what's an Oracle?"

Rachel cracked a smile. "I start spitting green smoke and I give prophecies that happen to tell the future."

Anisa stared for a few moments, and then regained her composure. "Okay. Sure. Smoke-spewing fortune-teller. Great. Where am I?"

"Camp Half-Blood. Long Island Sound, New York."

Anisa choked on her own spit. "_New York?_ I was in some forest in Sacramento and poof, I'm across the country? That's not possible!"

The Oracle shrugged. "Could be that some god took you across the country."

Anisa cursed under her breath. "That explains the hydras. Look, I have people I need to get back to." She was the leader of a small band of misfits who lived on the street with her. One of which was her brother, the youngest of the group. "How can I get back?"

"You might not be able to for a while," Rachel sighed. "Traveling across the country takes a while. Add that to the fact that you need training and that monsters attack every five minutes? You're going to have to wait. Besides, you might like it here!" Rachel brightened at the thought.

"Is there a way I can contact my brother?" Anisa pushed back a strand of curly red hair that had strayed into her face.

"Yeah, sure." Rachel held up a large gold coin. "What's his name?"

"Markos Bloom," Anisa reluctantly supplied.

Rachel tossed the coin onto the floor, where a rainbow from the sun in the window was. The coin sank gently into the ground and Rachel intoned, "O Iris, goddess of the rainbow, accept our offering. Show us Markos Bloom."

An image of the forest they'd been staying in appeared, and a boy with curly auburn hair ran as though all hell was after him. He quite similar to Anisa, a fact people often noted. The differences were clearly visible, though: he had shorter, darker hair; a more masculine face in general; his pale skin had no freckles; and his eyes were a deep chocolate brown, as compared to Anisa's striking brown-purple, which had a copper ring around the edge.

Markos paused at a small clearing in the woods to catch his breath and see what was behind him. Markos shrieked in pure terror and Anisa caught a glimpse of the creature stalking her little brother. It was a bat-like hag, human sized, and uglier than anything Anisa had ever seen. It held a fiery whip and growled menacingly, a sound that chilled Anisa to the bones. The whip flicked out, around Markos's arm, and he screamed in pain and horror. He fell to his knees before a golden light enveloped him and the creature. The light faded, leaving the clearing completely empty.


	3. Chapter 2

Anisa's breath came in short, ragged gasps. Her little brother, whom she loved more than anything else in the world, had been kidnapped by a- "What the hell _was_ that?" She demanded.

"A Kindly One. We don't like to use their real names." A man's voice replied gently. Anisa turned to see a man on a white horse behind her. But it couldn't be, because- there was no horse head or man's legs. What she was looking at was a perfectly melded blend of human and horse. A centaur.

Anisa flinched away from the centaur. Every instinct was warning her to run away, that centaurs meant bloodshed, yet no attack came. "Who are you? What happened to my brother? Why am I here? How can I get him back?" The questions flowed out of her mouth rapidly, without her permission.

The centaur looked faintly amused. "My name is Chiron. I assume some god brought you here. Your other two questions are more difficult to answer. I can only take a guess at what happened. You or your brother angered Hades, so he kidnapped Markos. My guess is that it was you. And… I'm sorry to say it, but… you may not be able to get your brother back."

Anisa cringed at the bluntly delivered news. She looked away and silently cursed, her mind divulging into Latin curses as well. She had taken the language in school and so was somewhat fluent. At least enough to cuss out people she didn't like. "Might. There's a chance I'll be able to though, right?"

Chiron's mouth twitched. "My dear, put that out of your mind for now."

That was when Anisa's wrist burned, and she cried out in agony. The pain was inexplicable, but it was right where she and her brother shared a homemade tattoo, in the shape of two circles linked together. An infinity sign. Two halves of a whole. She flipped her arm to look at it; the lines, instead of being a dull black, glowed a hot orange-red, as if on fire. _Anisa, please come._ A familiar voice whispered.

Rachel peered at the sign and jumped back, shocked. "I've seen that before," she murmured. "What is it?"

Anisa was taken aback. "Family business. I don't know where you'd've seen it."

"No, not on another person. In a vision. On you."

**/Markos\**

Markos shivered despite the heat. He was afraid that the king would be displeased with him and dispose of him. "Anisa," he whispered, trying to contact her through some bond he hoped they shared. "Please come." The desperation of the day leaked into his voice. Suddenly, the tattoo on his wrist glowed a fiery color, and a burning sensation flooded his whole body. However, the burning didn't hurt all that bad, and he was almost sure that his message had gotten through. Anisa knew he was in trouble.

The 11-year-old cringed as he was shoved towards the gilded black throne. "Please, let me go. I need to get back to my sister. She'll start to worry."

The man on the throne chuckled. "After all the time and trouble it took to bring you here? No, I think not."

Markos stared in horror. "No, you don't understand. My sister is my only family."

The king raised his eyebrows. "You do not have a mother? A father? A brother?"

"Our mother doesn't love us anymore. I never knew my father; he abandoned us. I don't have a brother."

"Is that so?" The man asked curiously. "Nico," he called. A boy maybe a year younger than Anisa stepped out from behind the throne. "Markos, this is your half-brother, Nico diAngelo. Nico, may I introduce your half-brother, Markos Bloom."

"But… but… Anisa is my only relative." Markos stuttered.

The man sighed. "On your mother's side, perhaps. But not on your father's."

Markos started to put the pieces of the puzzle together. "You don't mean…"

"I am your father, Markos."

Markos gave the man a defiant stare. "Who are you?"

"You'll have to find out for yourself." The man replied enigmatically. "Nico, he can share a room with you. Take him and show him around."

Nico nodded and drew a large, pure-black sword. Markos's eyes widened and he braced himself. However, all the older boy did was slice the ropes so that Markos could freely move. Nico nodded and offered a hand.

Markos took the hand and stood from his kneeling position. He shot a glare at the creature that had kidnapped him and she cackled evilly. He rubbed where the ropes had dug into his skin and followed Nico out of the throne room. "Who is he?"

Nico stopped and faced him with large, sad eyes. "You really don't want to know. It'll ruin your life."

Markos shook his head no. "My life's already in ruins. And this will eat away at me until I figure it out. What could be so bad that it would make my life worse?"

"Your father is Hades, the Greek god of the Underworld." Nico said bitterly. "Just be glad. At least here you're safe."

Markos said nothing, shocked. Instead, he silently walked behind the fellow son of Hades, mulling this over in his mind.

"This is my- our, now- room. You'll want to stay here until I come back. The Underworld is easy to get lost in." Nico said as he began to walk away.

Markos opened the door; it swung open easily. He examined the room they way he would a rich person, looking for anything he could beg or steal out of it. But there was nothing, just Nico's personal stuff, and Markos would feel bad taking that. He mutely sat and glanced at a few photos hanging around. There was a girl younger than Nico was now, though she looked older than him in the picture. Markos wondered what had happened to her.

A mirror caught his eye and he stared at his reflection. He saw an eleven-year-old boy with a ratty shirt and a wild gleam in his eye that hadn't been there before. Markos bit his lip and sat. He knew it would be a long time before Nico came back.


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N: ZOMG, GUYS. AN UPDATE. YOU'RE SO LUCKY. I never update anything anymore... but I'm using Anisa a lot more again, so I'll try and be a little more frequent and pick this back up. Teehee. Ooh, ominous warning. Sorry it's such a short chapter, they probably will be a bit shorter in an attempt to update more.**

Scrunching her face in displeasure, Anisa covered her face to try and block out the sun streaming in the window. "Ugh. I hate mornings," she muttered to herself. The ginger pulled herself out of her sleeping bag, accidentally stepping on a person, and yelping in shock. She stumbled back onto her sleeping bag, making sure to take a careful look at the path she was treading before stepping anywhere. Forgetting her clothes was a problem; Anisa quickly slipped back to her sleeping bag and changed before heading back to the edge of the cabin.

Finally making it to the door, Anisa grabbed the handle and yanked it open, stepping out into the dawn air. She breathed a sigh of relief; fresh air at last.

Taking a look back at the Hermes cabin, she couldn't help feeling again the strange sense of wrongness that had been dogging her ever since she had arrived. No matter what she did, however much she tried to convince herself that this was now home, something felt a little off about it. Its inhabitants were nice enough, minus Taylor, and she had already made a few good friends in the week and a half she had been here: namely Caleb Sandstrom, a son of Athena, and Daine Krea, a daughter of Hecate. Caleb had volunteered to give her a tour after she'd spent the night in the Big House healing; Daine had been her partner in her first ever sword lesson. Surprisingly, Anisa was decent at sword fighting; a natural, some even said. Compared to the others she had seen, though, she was merely decent, she knew.

All the same, a lesson every day for ten days, had made her more aware of the weaknesses she had. For example, Anisa was a leftie. Which meant that, naturally, her right side was weaker than her left. Not by much, but enough that if she tried switching hands, she had a bit of difficulty. So Anisa was spending half her time with technique on her left hand, and the other half strengthening her right and making it more cooperative when it came to fending someone off.

Arriving at the arena, Anisa peered in; no one was there, not even the earliest risers. Today was, apparently, a day everyone wanted to sleep in. Oh well, it didn't matter; more room for her to develop her technique. Entering quickly, she sprinted over to the weapons shed and pulled open the door. The sword she had been using was sitting in the far back; Anisa rolled her eyes and started for it, only to have her path blocked by- someone who hadn't been there a moment ago.

"Hi," Anisa blinked, stepping back to take a good look at the man. "Can I help you?"

He looked about in his mid-thirties, with salt-and-pepper hair, and twinkling copper eyes; he wore a simple track suit, and was holding an iPhone, tapping it a few times. The phone morphed into a caduceus, and he smiled. "Ah, that's better. George, Martha, say hello to Anisa, will you?"

The ginger stared as the snakes seemed to hiss into her thoughts, _hello, Anisa._

"I... Lord Hermes?" She stammered, surprised. "What are you doing here?"

Instead of answering her, the god said to his snakes, "Spit it out, will you? The sword, George! The marker! Not the non-magical sword, that's for someone else!" The snake coughed up an Expo dry-erase marker, and Hermes took it and handed it to Anisa. "This, daughter, is _Kidemonas._ More commonly known as Guardian. It is a gift for you, to help you on your journey. You will be a great swordsman someday. Just keep working."

Anisa accepted the marker with an awed look an her face. Gently uncapping it, she examined the sword: Celestial Bronze, with a slight glow to it. The hilt was decorated with a twining pattern of snakes that seemed to slither around, and the blade was perfectly balanced in her hand. "Thank you," she replied sincerely. "I'll make good use of it, I promise."

"I know you will," Hermes smiled. His smile faded and was replaced with a serious look as he said, "I also come with a warning, Anisa. You will understand it when time comes, but it won't make sense until then." Taking a deep breath, he said, "When it feels like you've lost everything, remember that I am watching." With that, the god disappeared, leaving Anisa alone in the shed.


End file.
